LONDON: UK government borrowing sank in May as the easing Covid lockdown boosted the economy and tax revenues, but remains elevated on costly pandemic support, official data showed Tuesday. Public sector net borrowing, the state's preferred measure of the deficit, slid to £24.3 billion ($33.7 billion, 28.3 billion euros) last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

However, that was still the second highest May level since records began after £43.8 billion in May 2020 at the height of the pandemic. The ONS also revised down borrowing for the financial year to the end of March to £299.2 billion - but this remained the highest level since World War II.

The public purse has been plagued by emergency Covid measures, in particular a furlough scheme which has paid the bulk of private sector wages for millions of workers across the UK during the crisis.